There was no shortage of drama in the first leg between Spain and the Netherlands as it took a stoppage-time goal to secure a valuable 2-2 draw for Luis de la Fuente’s side. With this valuable result and a game on home soil at the Mestalla, Spain is gearing up for a tricky second-leg encounter against a difficult opponent such as Ronald Koeman and his Netherlands team.
Spain Team News
Spain’s streak of consecutive wins was halted a few days ago during their game with the Netherlands as it took a goal deep in stoppage time for La Furia Roja to clinch a much-needed draw. It was pivotal for Luis de la Fuente to avoid defeat in the first leg against the Netherlands and Spain’s perseverance was rewarded. But for the rematch La Furia Roja will need all the advantages they can get to secure a good result. As the defending UNL champion, Spain has won all of its home fixtures in this edition of the tournament. Moreover, the team is unbeaten across its last 17 fixtures with this run also seeing Spain win Euro 2024. Generally, Spain’s matches tend to produce a good amount of goals, something that stands true for their most recent 4 fixtures, all of which produced at least 3 goals.
Netherlands Team News
Victory against the defending UNL champion was within touching distance for the Netherlands, who would have liked nothing more to ensure an advantage heading into the rematch. Ronald Koeman will demand more of his men for the game in Valencia, however, The Flying Dutchmen will have to overcome some hiccups in their recent form. For starters, their only win across the last 5 matches came at home against Hungary, with the remaining 4 matches producing 3 draws and 1 loss. The Netherlands have also failed to win any of their away games during this edition of the UNL, suffering a minimal loss to Germany and reaching 2 draws against Hungary and Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Head-to-Head-Games
Despite their recent success, Spain hasn’t fared well against the Netherlands. Overall, La Furia Roja has won just 1 of the last 9 H2H games and even that was way back in 1983. Since then the Netherlands have dominated this rivalry, even if the 2 most recent fixtures between these teams ended in draws.
Spain – Netherlands Betting Prediction
My pick here is for over 2.5 goals. While it might be surprising, especially given the Netherlands’ away result in the UNL and an overall neutral H2H in terms of over signs, I think we will be seeing goals for several reasons. Firstly, Spain will want to overcome their psychological burden against this opponent. As the defending champions, they will want to repeat their success and nothing but a win here will do.
Secondly, Spain’s recent matches have all produced high amounts of goals. The team is quite adept at scoring but has also shown some vulnerability at the back, with de la Fuente’s men failing to keep a clean sheet in their last 3 competitive outings.
Thirdly, the Netherlands generally tend to perform well in the UNL as they have reached the finals in 2 of the last 3 editions. If they aim to continue their success in the tournament, they must rise and secure a win. Despite some recent goal-shy games, the last time that Ronald Koeman and his team won over an opponent, currently ranked inside FIFA’s top 10, there were plenty of goals scored.
Betting Tip: Over 2.5 Goals
Bookmaker: Sportsbet.io
Odds: 1.75
Sportsbet.io
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